Safety Training

Safety awareness is an integral part of everything Canadian Rangers and Junior Canadian Rangers do – from building shelters out on the land, to fishing and hunting, to conducting surveillance patrols, to travelling by snowmobile.

A Message about Safety

Canadian Rangers and Junior Canadian Rangers are leaders and must set the example, whether on the land, the water or in the community.

We do this in our planning for training, operations and in our personal activities; we wear life jackets if we are on the water; we tell someone responsible when we go on the land; and we look after each other when we are out there. We also consider camp safety as well as home safety. Further, we do not cloud our thoughts and actions through the misuse of drugs and alcohol. Living in the north has many benefits; it also has many risks. As Canadian Rangers and Junior Canadian Rangers we must be mindful of those risks and ensure that we accomplish our tasks in a safe and responsible manner.

People in your communities will look to you for leadership because you are a Canadian Ranger or a Junior Canadian Ranger. Think about the weather, make sure your equipment is in good working order, wear the appropriate safety gear for whatever task you are performing, get trained on how to be safe for the task and let people know about your intentions.

Canadian Rangers operate in pairs because that is how we ensure our mutual safety and protection. All of our actions must consider safety for ourselves, other Canadian Rangers, Junior Canadian Rangers, our friends and our families.

Canadian Ranger Red Whistle Programme

Canadian Rangers and Junior Canadian Rangers in Ontario now wear bright red whistles attached to their clothing and/or equipment to use in case of emergency while out on the land or in the wilderness. More than 15,000 red whistles were distributed during the year 2000 to Junior Canadian Rangers, their instructors and leaders, and their Canadian Ranger counterparts in the province of Ontario.

This worthwhile initiative came from 3 CRPG (Ontario) as a way to commemorate the millennium and help promote safety awareness at the same time. The theme of “wear the whistle” was heavily promoted along with the Youth Wilderness Safety Program. The idea behind the project is that blowing the whistle can bring help in order to save lives and reduce injuries.

The red whistle is a Fox Forty whistle with a split ring, emblazoned with the Canadian Rangers crest. A 7-minute promotional video and poster featuring “Polar Pete” also accompanied the whistles as they made their way to all patrols throughout Canada. The cost of purchasing and distributing the whistles was covered by a grant from the Government of Canada through its Youth Employment Strategy program.